6 Hours!

I'm thrilled to report Jay accomplished his very first 6 hour sleep stretch last night! He fell to sleep at 9 p.m. after a full feeding and he didn't wake up until 3:15 a.m. It was wonderful! I woke up at 1:15 a.m. and pumped for 10 min., but I promptly returned to sweet sleep.

Molly took some short videos of Jay coo-ing, talking, waving his arms and kicking his feet which I hoped to share with you on this post, but I need to do some more 'figurin' to get them to work on blogger.

In the meantime, here are two more pictures Molly took of him yesterday.

Look at how big I'm getting! A special thanks to Kynda for making me this terrific blanket! It sure keeps me warm and cozy!

Another Day of Fun

Jay spent today with his Aunt and Cousins and once again Traci, Samantha, and Sydney sent us photos of his day. Thanks so much!

This Mom finds it hard to believe he is 8 weeks old today. He has changed SO MUCH in just one week let alone what he was like on his birthday June 2. This week he officially outgrew his newborn clothes (now he wears 0-3 month clothes), he went from newborn sized diapers to size 1 diapers, he is holding his head up really well these days, he gives lots of smiles, and is quite the talker (lots of grunts, coo-ing and squeals). HE'S GROWING UP SO QUICKLY! Matt and I are trying to soak in each moment with him, cherishing each day, smile, and coo.

I'm puttin' on the pounds - can you tell??

Hi Everybody!

Cuddle/Naptime with Sydney

SMILES!

Watching Samantha play her game on the computer

Each week Jay is sleeping longer at night. I'm regularly getting 3 to 4 hour sleep stretches which help me be a better worker during the day and a better wife and mom at night. I must admit, though, I'm looking forward to 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep. One day at a time...I know he'll soon do that.

7 Weeks Old

On Monday Jay spent the day with Aunt Traci and Cousins Samantha and Sydney.

Here is a typical day with Jay...

Eating
(Cousin Samantha feeding Jay)

Awake Time

Some Smiles

BIG YAWN followed by...

Nap Time!
(Cousin Sydney holding)

Some Love from Aunt Traci

And he ended his day in his "Jay Cool" outfit (yo yo yo!)
with Cousin Sydney ready for her gymnastics practice

While Dad and Mom Work

My first week back at work went well. I had energy at work, but because of my lack of sleep at night (at the most I'd get a four hour stretch - most of the time it was much less than that), I was very cranky and irritable in the evenings. (I'm really sorry Matt! You certainly took the full brunt of that. I'll really try to be better.)

While Matt and I were at work this week, Jay spent his time with his terrific Aunt Molly (my sis). She took these photos of Jay yesterday morning during his wake time.

Jay - July 18, 2008 - 6-1/2 weeks old

Look at how big I'm getting - and my long feet!

Look at my pose for you - I'm so cute!

My serious look

I'm so happy - here is a bit of a smile for 'ya!

SWING TIME

Here I am in my swing. I like being in it from time to time (but don't leave me swinging here too long - I always let you know when I'm ready to do something else).

Here is the view from my perspective. Looking at this was so fascinating to me today.

Wide-eyed fascination

I'm thrilled to say Jay gave us six hours of uninterrupted sleep last night. (The most he's ever done before this is 4-1/2). Now if he'll just do that on a more regular basis on weeknights...

Back to Work

Today was my first day back to work following my six week maternity leave. Jay was left in very loving and capable hands today - Aunt Molly (my twin sis) in the morning, then Aunt Traci (Matt's sister) and Jay's first cousins Samantha (top picture) and Sydney (bottom picture) cared for him this afternoon. *Thanks, Traci, for these photos!

I was able to focus easily at work today and I accomplished lots with my eased mind knowing Jay was being so well cared for.

There was one sad moment of my day, however. Today I officially gave my resignation notice for my job position at SPU. My last working day will be Friday, August 22. It will end nearly 10 years of employment there including two full years of education (I transferred there to receive my BA degree) and nearly 6 years of those years in full-time work in the Executive Offices. I'm cherishing my last few full-time work weeks in the meantime.

Molly will provide most of the full-time care of Jay with Traci and Mom W filling in when Molly has other things scheduled during the next six weeks. We're so GRATEFUL and feel so BLESSED that Jay's care is being done by loving family members. We can't thank them enough for their sacrifice of love for our family.

Relaxing

Yesterday afternoon Jay took a long nap with me in the living room recliner. He must have been in a deep sleep since I was able to get up out of the chair without waking him up, which provided for a terrific opportunity for some cute photos.

This photo below gives you some perspective on how "big" he is in comparison to the recliner.

After the nap and dinner, we all took a walk to enjoy the beautiful evening. We utilized the Baby Bjorn carrier for the first time. This photo was taken at the end of the walk when he didn't look as happy because he was hungry, but really, truly, he enjoyed being in the Bjorn. In fact, he wasn't in it more than 10 minutes when he fell to sleep against Matt's chest.

Bear With Me...

As I learn the ins and outs of blogger, all of its options for customization and such, bear with me. Hopefully you'll see improvements to this blog as the days go by...

Let me go back in time a bit to catch you up on a few of the latest happenings since Jay's arrival, June 2.

On Thursday, June 5, at our postpartum appointment, Jay weighed in at 6 lbs, 9.4 oz. We did another weight check on Saturday, June 7. That day he weighed 6 lbs, 14 oz. Since Jay had lost more than 10% of his birth weight on June 5, the lactation consultants wanted me to monitor his weight closely in his first weeks of life just to be sure he was getting adequate nutrition in the breastfeeding process.

Thursday, June 12, Matt and I took Jay to his first well-baby appointment to see his pediatrician. When we arrived, he got weighed (7 lbs. even), and then Dr. Crosby came in for his check-up. Jay was crying because he was hungry so she had to listen really hard for his heartbeat. After listening for a bit, she asked Matt and I if the hospital staff ever mentioned to us a fast heartbeat. "No" was our reply. She then asked another pediatrician in the office to listen to Jay's heartbeat. The short of it is that Jay's heartbeat was beating too fast, so we took a very unexpected ambulance ride across the busy 520 bridge to Seattle Children's Hospital. After an hour + in the emergency room with Jay hooked up to monitors, he had another fast heartbeat episode. It didn't last long, but it was long enough for the doctors to confirm their hunches, they had the proof on paper, and they were able to give a diagnosis. Jay has SVT - supraventricular tachycardia. It is a fast heart rate involving both the heart's upper and lower chambers. Thankfully it isn't a life-threatening problem for most children and adolescents. For many infants, SVT is a time-limited problem and treatment with medication often stops after six to 12 months. SVT can occur in infants with otherwise-normal hearts (which is true for Jay). When he has an "episode", his heart rate is usually more than 220 beats per minute (normal for infants is around 120-160 beats per minute).

Once the episode happened in the emergency room, Jay was given some medication and we were all admitted to a room. The medication was administered every 8 hours and needed to be in his system a minimum of 24 hours before the doctors would even consider releasing us from the hospital. The first night Jay had 5 or so episodes (we knew this because of the monitors he had stuck on him), so when the doctor saw us the next morning, he told us he wanted to keep Jay in the hospital one more night on the monitors. Jay only had one more episode in the following 24 hours, so the beta blocker medication seemed to be doing its job. After seeing the cardiologist late Saturday morning, we were released from the hospital around 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 14. We were so glad to be home. Matt and I have such a new and empathatic respect for parents with little ones at Children's.

On Tuesday, June 17, we returned to see Jay's pediatrician since we didn't make it all the way through his first check-up on June 12. This time he received a clean bill of health (phew!), weighing in at 7 lbs. even again. (I think we had a bit of a set-back weight-wise when we were at Children's Hospital.) I did a weight check on Saturday, June 21 and he was 7 lbs., 3.6 oz. and on Thursday, June 26, he weighed 7 lbs. 7.8 oz. On June 26 I knew for sure we were on the upswing with his weight gain finally. Wednesday, July 2 Jay had his 1 month check-up with the pediatrician and he weighed 8 lbs., 1 oz. and received another clean bill of health (plus his second Hepatitis B shot).

Thursday, July 3, Matt, Jay and I traveled over to Eastern Washington - our first out-of-town trip since Jay was born. We left Bellevue at 9:30 a.m. and made it all the way to Ellensburg where we stopped for a bite to eat and to feed and change Jay. We then stopped in Quincy and Ephrata to visit with friends, arriving at Grandma Amy's (my Mom's home) at 6:00 p.m. - just in time for dinner. We were so glad that Jay traveled so well. Here is a picture of the wheat that will be harvested from the fields surrounding Mom's house next month.

Friday, July 4, we spent the afternoon and evening at my aunt and uncle's lake home outside of Spokane. He got to meet the majority of his great-aunts and great-uncle on my Mom's side and his Klein family cousins. It was a beautiful day at the lake and Jay did just SUPER! Here is a picture of Jay in Grandma Amy's arms with his sun hat on.

And here is a photo of Jay being held by my brother, Jay's Uncle Scott.

The next day, my Aunt Julie and Grandma Galbreath came out to Mom's house to meet Jay. Here is a photo of Jay with Great Grandma Galbreath.

On Wednesday this week, July 9, Jay had his follow-up appointment with the cardiologist. Again he was weighed and measured - stats: 8 lbs., 10 oz., 21-1/2" long. It was a good visit with the doctor. Because Matt and I haven't caught Jay's heart in an "episode", Jay will remain on the medication dosage amount (1 ml every 8 hours). As he grows, he will eventually wean himself off the medication. We'll see the cardiologist again in early September for another follow-up visit. The game plan is this: Matt and I will continue to monitor Jay's heartbeat via the stethoscope. If we find he is in SVT, we'll place a bag of frozen peas on Jay's face, a manuever they have found works to help his body/heart to stop beating fast. If the maneuver(s) we do to Jay don't stop his heart from its fast rhythm, when 30 minutes goes by and his heart is still beating fast, we'll drive to Seattle Children's Hospital and have them assist us in getting Jay's heartbeat back to a normal beat. Hopefully we won't have to do all that. If we are able to get Jay's heartbeat back to normal with our maneuvers, we'll call the doctor and just inform him of Jay's episode and the cardiologist may recommend up-ping Jay's medication dosage. And we're REALLY hoping and praying Jay doesn't experience them much at all. We'd love to see the doctor in September and report no episodes and have the doctor say to "stay the course" with the same dosage of medication, etc.

I'll end this post with a picture of Jay taken yesterday, sweetly taking his nap in the crib. Notice his typical fists-up-by-his-face stance.

New to the Blogging World

I'm finally entering the blogging world! I'm hoping this blog will make it easier for our family and friends to keep up with the latest happenings in our lives (and I'll admit it is the most convenient way for me to keep 'ya'll up to date).

Much has happened since May 18, 2005. That was the day Matt and I went on our first date at the Queen Anne Starbucks in Seattle. We got engaged exactly 5 months later on October 18 at Parsons Garden on Queen Anne, and then married on March 18, 2006 at First Free Methodist Church in Seattle - the campus church of Seattle Pacific University.

After some fun travels seeing many friends and family in 2007, James "Jay" Dunegan Worthington entered our lives on June 2, 2008!

Jay's stats:

Born: Monday, June 2, 2008

Time: 2:09 p.m.

Weight: 7 lbs., 6 oz.

(actually the scale read 7 lbs, 5.5 oz, but they always round up I'm told)

Length: 19-3/4 inches

Above Photo from Left to Right:

Matt's Dad, James "Jim" Dunegan (Jay's namesake), who'll be known to Jay as "PopPop"

My Mom, Amy, who'll be known to Jay as "Grandma"

The star of the photo: Jay

My terrific husband, Matt, who'll be known to Jay as "Dad" or "Daddy" or ??

Matt's Mom, Carol, who'll be known to Jay as "Nana"

Here are a few more of my favorite pictures taken the next day, Tuesday, June 3, 2008.

The above photo is Jay with my sister, Jay's Aunt Molly.

And here is my ultimate favorite photo - our first family photo taken on Tuesday, June 10, 1 week and 1 day after Jay's arrival.

Matt, Jay, and Mindy